jago pearce

I can't afford to buy land with a house on it as the prices in the area I am interested in are still very high. My plan instead is to rent an apartment and own some land nearby.

However... planning laws... I'm unclear of how this works in Spain and I'm beginning to worry that I could have the same problem here as in the UK
In the UK the problem for me has been that to have somewhere for projects (farming, methane generation, algae, fish farming, solar panels, wind generator etc) is mixed or industrial use... but there is no mixed use land class between rustic (Agricultral) and residential class. Thus... I would have to go for residential class land... or go with agricultural and take some sort of chance.
For security I need somewhere to store tools and for me that is building.

What are the rules? Is this feasible? Any advice?
In terms of budget I can see areas here with poor but volcanic soil at 6000m2+ or an area with very good soil but 1200m2, both with frontage and water but both rustic only.

My boss and job is allowing me to live "anywhere in Europe". Better still, I have approx. one month working away and one month off to work on permaculture. I also speak basic Spanish - enough to survive in a community, not enough yet to bond strongly. I am funded, but not yet to a scale of buying a house in cash at UK prices.

Likewise I am looking to buy my first home. I have been living out of a suitcase for years now and I really ache for somewhere to call home. I cannot do permaculture alone. I need a community and I want to buy into this. This is where it gets difficult.

I have found projects offering the LLC option with shares for purchase and I have found some so far south where the heating problem is not an issue. However I am suspicious of such arrangements at the price on offer. Perhaps it is because I am British that I just have to "own" the land. Hopefully I can move beyond this one day but I am not yet ready for that jump.

Thus, I search for anywhere that simply has small parcels of land for sale around a shared area.

If you are likeminded please get in touch. I believe this is a very in demand thing. I know of plenty of projects outside of Europe on cheaper land where an investor is purchasing the land, subdividing and providing leadership for a well deserved profit at western prices... but I can see no project on ic.org in Europe.

This thread really goes to the crux of the problem. I really hope to see a many good setups one day.


What Harold Waldock writes about being social is totally where I am now (thank you Paul). I know places I can buy but I would be alone - impossible.
Unfortunately I have few friends I know of who are good candidates, only a few aquaintances. This is due to my lifestyle working away.

What I am looking for is a small piece of land next to community land. That is all for the moment.
If the budget was low enough it could be outside of Europe but ideally it would be inside Europe so I can run this while working and so take very little risk.

I have found some projects that offer the community is a company - you own company shares to live there setup but I am suspicious of this and it is interesting that Diana Christian mentions that 90% of these projects fail. It is also useful to note "Don't partner with someone more powerful than you that doesn't think like you" - that is exactly the feeling that I have from the projects I have enquired about.

One projects wants me to complete a study course at cost in order to get to know me. After this I can then purchase the ability to live there for 1 month for €1000/yr or €20,000 to have it as a full time home! Obviously I don't want to invest any time in a course without knowing fully on the details of that LLC. Because they do not provide contracts on their website and don't discuss this kind of detail I am suspicious. On the one hand they are cautious and have a very industrious philosopy and team, but needing to ask for legal detail has put me off.

Does anyone know of a project in Europe (preferrably somewhere as south as possible and on the Atlantic coast) with a more simple (KISS keep it simple stupid) view of land division? I cannot find any on ic.org

"I think there needs to be some hunkering down, which requires a different approach to life planning vs. our current highly mobile lifestyle."
^
This is very relevent to me. I have a mobile life... but after 6 years of living out of a suitcase nowhere feels like home and I'm looking for that base.

"The only stability I can actually grasp is to buy some land for cash."
^ this is exactly it for me too. I find it hard to grasp the shared LLC as stability. There is a link in the mind between territory and emotion, for better or worse. Like it or not projects need to acknowledge this. I would hope that by my simple approach of dividing the land into single and a shared space that the 2 approaches can be matched.